Film /
What the #$*! Do We Know!?

Edit Locked

Filmed to promote a vague new age philosophy based on a very, very broad interpretation of quantum physics, the movie was funded by J. Z. Knight and heavily features commentary from 'Ramtha', an ancient Atlantian general who is apparently speaking through Knight. The movie features other proclaimed scientists who either have unrelated degrees or claim to have been taken out of context.

Advertisement:

It follows a vague documentary format, switching between commentators talking about: the implications of Quantum physics and consciousness altering reality [seemingly in radical and pretty much straight up magical ways]; a deaf photographer with anxiety issues named Amanda, who starts to experience reality through other perspectives while living with her rather out-there sister; as well as some experts in the field going over their experiments and findings.

It emphasizes different perceptions of reality and how our perception of reality can alter it, claiming that bad things happen to us because we choose to play the victim and Amanda's anxiety disorder seems magically cured after she finished destroying an image of herself in the mirror and starts thinking positive.

Advertisement:

Tropes

Artistic License  History: The movie claims that the Native Americans couldn't see Christopher Columbus' ships until their shaman explained what they were, because the ships were so far outside the Natives' experience. By all historical accounts, they could see the ships perfectly fine.

Author Tract: The movie was effectively made to promote the Ramtha cult.

The Empath: Amanda, as part of her quantum adventure. She starts experiencing life from other points of view besides her own.

Lucky Charms Title: The film is stylized as What tнē #$*! D̄ө ωΣ (k)πow!? on its promotional poster and DVD cover art.

Manipulative Editing: The interviews with real physicists were often chopped up and taken out of context, often to the extent of presenting the exact opposite of what the physicists meant.

Advertisement:

Narrator: Ramtha, a mighty warrior-spirit from Atlantis (or Lemuria, not so sure) serves as our narrator.

New Age: Apparently, the film was very well regarded by the New Age community, which isn't surprising, as it's obviously made to defend their ideals.

No Medication for Me: Amanda tosses her anxiety medication in the trash the moment she starts feeling good about herself.

Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Ramtha. JZ Knight, while "channeling" him, often slips back into her normal voice.note This is evidence to skeptics that she's faking it, and former employees of hers say that she indeed practices the accent while not "channeling".

Robo Cam: One sequence features some guys viewing a party in this way, seeking "foxes who put out" and categorize women in terms of "foxes who don't put out, dogs, and cows." An overweight elderly woman who doesn't put out causes a system crash.

Shameless Self-Promoter: The whole thing was produced as a giant promo for J.Z. Knight's Ramtha cult; fittingly, it was produced by some students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment.

Community

Tropes HQ

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy